Bedtime Story
by Firisu
Summary: Hitsugaya is trying to get to sleep, without much luck. So Hinamori decides to sing him a little nursery rhyme. Slight HitsuHina, one-shot.


**A/N: This is the first piece I wrote for the short story portfolio my English teacher assigned our class (though I've changed and added some things in this version that my teacher wouldn't have understood if she'd read them). The criteria for this narrative were to include only two characters – one telling the other a children's nursery rhyme – and plenty of dialogue. Anyway, this is set in Rukongai back when Hinamori and Hitsugaya lived together like siblings.**

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**Bedtime Story**

She gazed up at the dark blue sky outside the window. She didn't fancy herself as an astrologer in any way, shape or form, but lately, she had found herself staring at the night sky more and more, intrigued by the intricate beauty of the stars. Maybe it was because it was something that remained the same after life and through into death. Whatever the reason, she was glad to know there was a connection between the two worlds, no matter how unreachable it was. Somehow, it gave her hope – the hope that some things could last forever and stay with you wherever you go.

She smiled to herself.

"Hey, Bedwetter Momo!"

She turned around instinctively in response to her unfortunate nickname. And she replied to her little brother with the same level of malice – only in a much sweeter voice, "What is it, Shiro-chan?"

The boy's left eyebrow twitched.

"I told you to stop calling me Shiro-chan!" He pulled his blanket over his head stubbornly and turned onto his side to face the wall. "Just get out of my room already."

"You don't want me around?" she asked with mock sorrow.

"I said I don't want you here right _now_."

"But I want to look after you, Shiro-chan."

"I don't need looking after. What I do need is to get to sleep. And I can't do that while you're here!"

"Well, why don't I sing you a nursery rhyme?"

"Because I'm not six years old," he muttered under his breath.

"Your height says otherwise." She chuckled.

"Be quiet! You're not that tall yourself, you know!"

"Aw, Shiro-chan, that's not nice," she whined playfully. All the same, she walked away from the windowsill and pulled up a chair beside her brother's bed. "Hmm, what shall I sing? Oh, I know! Twinkle, twinkle, little star! That's every kid's favourite!"

"I am not a kid!" he retorted, still facing away from his sister. The girl decided to continue as if she hadn't heard him speak.

"_Twinkle, twinkle, little star,_" she began in her high melodic voice.

Just as she was about to move on to the next line however, he interrupted in a matter-of-fact tone, "You know, stars really aren't that little. The sun is a star, and only a medium-sized one at that. The smallest star is about the size of Mercury. If you're calling them _little_, then they would think of _you_ as a speck of dust."

The girl's smile was replaced with a slight pout. She could practically hear the smirk in his voice. She knew he was much smarter than most kids his age but she wished he could at least play along with her efforts to act like a normal family. As far as she knew, he'd never had any fun before in his life. "Please, Shiro-chan, just be quiet and listen, okay?"

She heard him groan in reply.

And so, she responded by continuing the song, "_How I wonder what you are._"

"We don't need to wonder," he began to criticize again. "Scientists have already figured out what a star is. It's really very simple. Wondering is for people who don't know the facts, which does not apply to me."

She didn't see much point in finishing the song. He had always hated childish things. And she understood that fully. So what made her keep trying, again and again? Perhaps it was the grouchy yet adorable expression that crossed his face every time she irritated him with anything remedial of this sort. For some strange reason, she always thought he looked cutest when angry. That thought brought the smile back to her face.

She continued, "_Up above the world so high._"

And again, he interrupted, "Stars aren't necessarily _above_ the world. In space, who's to say which way is up or down? Even if you're facing down, it's not like there's any gravity for you to plummet to your death."

And she decided to ignore him – yet again.

"_Like a diamond in the sky._" The lyrics flowed together beautifully and flawlessly in her enchanting voice.

But her brother was always the incorrigible one. Instead of appreciating poetry, he'd prefer to condemn it. "That's a stupid analogy. Scientists actually have discovered a diamond in space. They say it's approximately ten billion trillion trillion carats."

The young girl let out a resigned sigh, reaching her hand out to turn off the bedside lamp whilst singing the last two lines softly to herself, "_Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are._"

"Wait," he commanded, still buried under his blankets. The girl looked towards her brother, letting her hand fall lightly on the table beside the lamp.

He turned in his sheets to meet her gaze with a conceited smirk on his face. "There are still four verses left."

"Oh, is that so?" She racked her brain for more lines, but came up empty.

And so he sang. "_When the blazing sun is gone, when he nothing shines upon, then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle, all the night. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are._"

His voice was a vast contrast to hers – low and steady as opposed to high and soft. In a way, it represented the two perfectly. They were so different that people couldn't understand how they got along so well – bickering and name-calling aside.

"_Then the traveler in the dark thanks you for your tiny spark. He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are._"

Maybe it was because they were both like stray stars; so unnoticeable, lost in a sea of larger constellations, but they still shined the way for whoever needed their help and tried their best to guide them towards the light.

"_In the dark blue sky you keep, and often through my curtains peep, for you never shut your eye, till the sun is in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are._"

Perhaps all you ever really need is one person – someone to watch over you and show you the way. And once you find them, you never let them leave your sight.

"_As your bright and tiny spark, lights the traveler in the dark. Though I know not what you are, twinkle, twinkle, little star. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are…_"

He let his voice drift into silence before looking to his sister. The side of her face rested on the wooden table, her eyes long since closed and her back steadily lifting and dropping little by little as she breathed.

Leaning over to reach his bedside lamp, he softly pecked her cheek before turning the light off with a click.

"Goodnight," he whispered tenderly into the darkness, unaware that the girl was still listening, "Bedwetter."

Yes, she believed some things could last forever.


End file.
